The Unwanted
by smileysoul
Summary: AU:He only parked the car by the roadside when he realized he had been about to crash into a lamp post. How had it ended up like this? They were supposed to be chilling together at home. The bastard had promised they'd spend that weekend together, away from everything except from each other. He had fucking promised. Turns out the bastard was a shameless liar. Why had this happened?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

* * *

He only parked the car by the roadside when he realized he had been about to crash into a lamp post.

His hands, his precious confident hands, were violently shaking against his will.

He needed a fucking cigarette.

At some point he realized he needed his hands to move in order to get the cancer stick and the lighter, an action they didn't seem to be doing since they were still clinging to the wheel, still trembling.

His brain went through the inner motions of registering the situation, coming up with the right action course, sending the order to his uncooperative hands and forcing them to move. He finally fished a cigarette and his treasured lighter. The one Zoro had given him.

A strangled primal sound escaped his mouth as he tried to restrain it, only earning a lump in the throat. He blinked his dry lost eyes and lit the cigarette. Or tried to. He couldn't get a flame out of the damn yet precious thing. His fingers were failing him. He tried again. Once. Twice. Three times. He gave up at the tenth attempt and just rested against the back of the driver's seat, looking ahead at nothing in particular, feeling painfully empty.

How had it ended up like this?

It wasn't supposed to be like this, not in his head. They were supposed to be chilling _together _at home. Sanji would have cooked an incredible breakfast for _both_ of them, then _they_ would have made love, then gone to sleep, keeping _each other_ warm. Because the damn moss-head was like a living heater.

They were supposed to be planning the upcoming weekend _together_. The bastard had _promised_ they'd spend that weekend _together_, away from everything except from _each other_. He had fucking _promised_. Turns out the bastard was a shameless liar. How dared he?! How dared he leave him alone?! Hadn't he fucking made a promise?! Damn liar. So much for keeping his word.

Why had this happened?

Sanji's thoughts were broken when he registered a sob. It was his own voice. Tears were streaming down his face without control, his body painfully convulsing to keep from crying. So much for trying.

He'd never felt this weak, he'd never felt this hurt, he'd never felt this empty, he'd never felt like dying before. Maybe crashing against the lamp post wouldn't have been such a bad idea after all. At least it would have eased the torture he was going through. Alone.

But most of all, he felt _lost_. What a cruel irony, Zoro would have laughed at him. The thought only fueled his despair, tears and agonizing cries, unable to restrain them anymore. Fuck. Fuck. _Fuck_! He'd never felt this utterly lost and lonely in his entire life.

It wasn't meant to be like this.

It shouldn't have been like this.

It _couldn't_ be like this.

But it was. And he was broken beyond repair, he knew it already.

The cigarette fell from his lips as he cried Zoro's name over and over, his voice hoarse and desperate, his chest and stomach and throat aching more and more by the moment. He felt so helpless and small. So hurt. So _weak_. So lonely. _So lost_.

Fuck.

He screamed against his hands, barely muffling the unrecognizable raw noise coming out of his throat.

Why?

How had it ended up like this?

* * *

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 1 - The Present

**Chapter 1**

**The Present**

* * *

The siren rang somewhere in the south faction of the city, filling the night with a strident familiar melody. Not a pleasant one, though.

Sanji sighed into his cigarette and let a cloud of smoke lazily escape his mouth and disappear into the dusk swallowing the city. Another hard dangerous night began for the Unwanted, the start highlighted by the last notes of the siren evaporating in the air. The blonde spared a thought on those poor souls and went back inside his apartment to put some dress black slacks on and secure them with a belt. His hair was almost dry now, so he styled it the way he always had, giving a reassuring and confident look at his reflection. After watching himself smiling back, he rushed to get a burgundy tight shirt and a matching tie he tied with expertise. He took one last checking look at himself, grabbed his blazer and stuffed his pockets with his apartment keys, his phone and his wallet, finally locating the car's keys and leaving home to get into his car and starting the engine with a roar.

The car was gulped by the evening life traffic, bathed by neon lights and shades of dark shadows as it went by. Five minutes later his phone was ringing and Sanji activated the loud-speakers.

"Sanji Blackleg." he answered to the air.

A familiar bubbly voice invaded the car. "Sanji! Hi, it's Luffy! We've got a bit of a problem here!"

Sanji blinked and slight worry shot through his veins as "a bit of a problem" in Luffy's vocabulary comprised of all degrees of "problem" for the average person, from him being hungry to him being fucked up for good. He really hoped it wasn't the last one.

"What's wrong?", he asked, trying to decipher which degree of a problem he was potentially going to be dealing with.

Then he heard a few painful noises that could only be the Strawhat's face being beaten up and punched for good measure. He knew who was going to answer his question before her voice made its way through the loud-speakers.

"Hello, Sanji. It's Nami here."

Thank God. She sounded pissed as hell but not the bad kind of serious he had feared for a moment. He really wasn't in the mood for shit, today was Robin's night, so he'd rather have a peaceful one. Nami's tone calmed him down and he felt a smile tugging at his lips.

"Hi, love,"he affectionately answered. "What happened? Need some help?"

"Would you mind picking us up at our apartment, please?" she asked, annoyed as ever. "This idiot here managed to break the car somehow and we can't make it in time if we take public transport, it's slow as hell."

"Of course it's not a problem, darling! Tell the idiot to stay still before he breaks anything else, I'll be coming right up." he answered with a gentle tone but frowning when he saw the time in the car's clock. They'd be late for sure. "Mmmh... I think I can get there in about... less than ten minutes? Are you at home?"

"Yes, thank you Sanji! Sorry for bothering you..."

"Nah, you're never a bother, Nami" he reassured her with fond, but his brain was making mental acrobatics to think of the fastest route to the Museum all the while. "See you in a moment."

He then hung up and concentrated on driving since speeding velocity required more attention to be able to sort out obstacles faster. He took a look at the speedometer and saw he was still under the maximum speed level. Good.

His phone went off again and he answered almost instantly, wondering if Nami needed anything else.

"Sanji Blackleg" was his trademark answer.

"Hi, little eggplant."

Sanji rolled his eyes at the annoying voice and at the fucking annoying nickname.

"The fuck do you want now, old man?" he asked with a tone that screamed _hurry the fuck up, I don't have time for you_.

"You going to that event with Robin?" Zeff asked with a grumpy voice. To his credit he had actually asked quite nicely for their normal exchanges being what they usually were like, especially taking into account Sanji's 'friendly' greeting.

"I'm on my way there."

"Well, since I'm selflessly covering your shift tonight so that you can go there, and consequently I can't – you're welcome by the way –, I thought you'd gladly come get a present I've got for her and give it to her for me. Am I right or am I right, eggplant?"

"Dismissed. I'm already running late, old fart. Should've called earlier. Sorry, not really sorry."

"What am I hearing? Oh, is it the sound of your shift already starting while you have no one who's covering for you? Oh, my, is it the sound of your shitty night off burning down to ashes? Yeah, thought so. Sorry, not really sorry."

"You shitty old fart!" Sanji cursed with a snarl nobody could see, fire raging through his veins and anger getting the best of him.

"Get your ass back here, you damn brat! If you don't come get her present I'm going to fire you, that clear enough?!" Zeff yelled through the speakers, authoritative and annoying and grumpy and insufferable as always.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Sanji muttered, chewing each word with a promise of physical pain. "It'd better be a worthy present, you shitty old man!" And then he hung up only to punch another number in the poor phone while profusely cursing, barely avoiding contact with a slower driver's car when he made to pass him and earning an indignant insult when he did.

One beep. Two beeps. Three beeps.

"Hello?"

"Nami, dear, it's Sanji. I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

"Something wrong?" she asked with a hint of worry in her voice.

"Nah, just my old man getting senile, that's all. I'm sorry for that, I'll try to hurry," he reassured her while doing a damn good job at hiding how pissed off he was, because poor Nami wasn't at fault and he'd never speak like that to a lady, may heaven and hell forbid him!

"Okay, just don't kill yourself on the way. Drive safe."

Sanji drove as a kamikaze through the streets to get to a destination he had inked his skin with for life. When he saw the Baratie's lights welcoming its guests, he parked the car with a screech, if that could be called parking, and stormed into the building without a care in the world about manners, greetings or even locking the car for that matter. The thought registered in his brain as he was opening the Baratie doors and passed a shocked familiar waiter who waved at him and never got a glance back, but he decided that if some fucker really dared steal his car while he wasn't there, he'd have his foot introduced to the bastard's face as a side dish for leaving the man unable to ever reach the biological possibility of being a father. Yeah, that would make it. So no worries. His car would be safe. It'd better be.

He kind of kept his cool as he passed by the dinner guests, ordering himself not to make a scene right there. There were ladies who could feel offended, after all. Once in the kitchen, it was another world.

"Zeff!" he roared over the clanks and whistling sounds of cooking and cooks shouting orders at each other.

"Damn, Sanji, don't be so fucking loud!" yelled an equally if not louder man who totally looked like a delinquent recently freed from jail.

"Shut your ugly face, Patty!" Sanji threatened. "Where's the old man? I'm running fucking late!"

"Your problem, not mine. At least you are going to have fun," a grumpy voice stated behind him. Sanji turned with a glare and found himself taken aback by a wrapped package tossed at him. "Her present. Now you can go. Didn't take that long."

Sanji looked from the present to the tall blond old man that was now distractedly playing with his ridiculously braided moustache.

"What's this?" he asked, suddenly suspicious. Now that he thought of it, Zeff wouldn't have normally made him come to get Robin a present knowing he was running late. Damn, the old man would have never given Robin a present! So it could only be...

"A present," Zeff helpfully explained. "To congratulate her for her success with this Egyptian exhibition or whatever she's inaugurating tonight."

Sanji frowned at him and invaded his personal space, lowering his voice so that only his adoptive father could hear him.

"What's in there?" he insisted.

"Thought you were in a rush," Zeff mocked matter-of-factly.

Sanji felt himself getting annoyed again and his brain helpfully reminded him that engaging into a fight with the old man would only take him too much time he couldn't afford and the need to change his clothes, which would probably get ruined. So instead he settled for grabbing Zeff's apron front and dragging him to his office without the older man opposing. Once inside, he closed the door behind them with a loud thump.

"Well?"

"Names and locations. Interesting information we've been able to gather over the past few days," Zeff gave in with a solid calm voice, as if he wasn't talking about something that could get them arrested.

"Well, it must be some urgent important shit if we're going out of our usual way to hand it over to her. What's with the rush? You know it'll be a public place full of important people who wouldn't be exactly fond at what we do if they happened to find out, don't you?" Sanji countered with a scowl. Not that he minded doing this kind of shit, he had been doing that for ages and he was totally cool with it, but as much as he truly didn't give a fuck about risking his life for the cause and despite being quite reckless himself, he knew there were parameters and rules to follow if they didn't want their asses handed to the cops in the blink of an eye.

"Isn't it your job to keep these important people from finding anything out?" Zeff objected in an all-too-mighty way. Clearly letting him know it was Sanji's problem. Not his. "And yes, it's important and rather _urgent_, so you better give it to her in one piece tonight without fucking up."

"Yeah, yeah. Delivery boy at your fucking service," Sanji scoffed with a resented look. "Can I get anything else done for your royal ass?"

"Yeah, get the fuck outta here and go do your job."

"It was my night off, may I remind you. You know, for having fun and disconnecting and relaxing and all this stuff. Ever heard of personal free time?" Sanji bit back as he slowly turned to the door.

"Whatever. Once you've given it to her, burden's hers and you can stop worrying and have your fun, kid."

"Of course, 'cause tonight was definitely the best possible time to burden Robin with this shit!"

"She's in _this shit _deeper than both of us and the whole Baratie together, so don't worry, I bet she already bathes and sleeps in it on a dalily basis."

"You're fucking gross!"

"And you said you were late. I don't see you trying to solve your own punctuality problem, boy."

"Want me to beat you, old fart?!" Sanji growled as he walked through the kitchen with Zeff following suit, not caring about the weird looks the other chefs sent their way. "I would already be there if you hadn't been an asshole about it and called me when I already was on my way there! 'Cause you obviously didn't have a whole fucking day to do it, no! Why fucking bother! Let's call last minute so that we can annoy the shit out of Sanji, why not!"

"Shut up and get the hell out of my kitchen, you damn brat! I'm seriously gonna kick the shit out of you if I have to put up with your annoying self for one more second!"

"You're welcome, shitty old fart!" Sanji yelled back as the kitchen doors aggressively closed behind him.

"Don't you dare fuck this up, eggplant!" a muffled voice reached through the still batting doors.

Sanji didn't stop his tracks even when he realised half the restaurant was looking at him with wide eyes as they had probably heard everything after 'shut up and get the hell out of my kitchen'. Real nice. Lovely. _Fantastic_. So much for not wanting to make a scene in front of the dinner guests. Sanji restrained himself from face-palming and left the Baratie as fast as he could, heading for his car, which was luckily still "parked" there. He tossed the package on the driver's seat and the engine roared to life before meddling with the night traffic at a dangerous speed that earned him some insults and raised middle fingers.

When he finally saw a divine redhead in a breathtaking long dress and a childish raven boy waiting on the sidewalk, he almost broke the brakes while succeeding in stopping _right_ in front of them with a cocky smirk. Wasn't he cool.

"Told you to drive safe," Nami muttered with a frown. What a lovely angel she was, caring for his safety! But there was no way he was going to make her wait for too long just because his old man had decided that his main goal in life was to make Sanji's insufferable.

"Get in, love. I promise I'll get us in time," Sanji offered with a soft charming smile.

Luffy got into the car hurriedly and apologizing with a wide grin. "Sorry about that Sanji! Stupid car didn't want to work!"

"You broke it, dammit!" Nami yelled at him while getting in right after. "Are we late?"

"Kind of, but don't worry, I'll try and take a shortcut there. If traffic is not too bad we can make it in time. Hopefully," Sanji answered smiling at her with affection through the front mirror. "And Luffy, what the hell did you do to break the poor thing?"

"It's not my fault! It refused to work so I..."

"Whatever. Let's get going, it's a really important day for Robin and I don't want us to be too late," Nami cut him with a frown, effectively shutting him up. Just for a while, not that he could stay silent for more than thirty seconds.

"What's this?"

Sanji's heart found a new home up his throat as he saw the bubbly guy's hand reaching to the front sit and casually grabbing Zeff's package. His own hand came into view as it slapped Luffy's away and he fixed the guy with a warning scowl through the front mirror.

"Robin's present. From Zeff."

Luffy blinked with pure curiosity leading his gaze from Sanji to the present and back to him, his expression clearly showing that he was dying to open it. Luckily enough, Sanji had earned himself some authority through the years since he had met the loud childish boy and his glare seemed enough to keep him at bay. At least for now.

"Is it meat?"

Sanji rolled his eyes with exasperation and Nami copied the exact same gesture by Luffy's side.

"Does it look like meat, Luffy?" Sanji asked as if he was talking to a particularly stupid kid. Luffy frowned for good measure, seriously considering it but apparently dismissing the thought as his mind moved to the following problem in his list of life-changing problems.

"Is there gonna be any meat there?" the raven guy shouted with bright stars shining in his round eyes.

"Not there, you damn black hole, but there'll probably be some in the after party."

"Great! Great! Meat feast!" Luffy exploded throwing his fists in the air only to crash them against the roof of the car.

"Careful with my car!"

"Luffy, can you just shut up?! I'm getting a headache!"

"Luffy, stop moving around, I'm trying to drive, we're seriously gonna have an accident! Fasten your fucking seatbelt!"

"Meat feaaaast"! Luffy kept sing-songing, oblivious of the fact that both the blonde's and the redhead's brains were working out different ways of shutting him up, none of them pleasant for him.

"Luffy if you don't shut the fuck up right now, I'll never cook for you again, I swear!"

And the car abruptly fell silent except for the relieved sigh Nami let out. Sanji drived at dangerous speed dodging surprised drivers here and there, determined to get to the Museum in time.

At one point Luffy began his nonsense chatter again and Sanji ended up laughing at something especially stupid the boy had just said while Nami face-palmed in embarrassment. "How did I end up with this idiot?" they heard her mutter. Luffy just grinned at her and Sanji let out a melancholic smile without getting his eyes off the road, which was slowly widening and welcoming them to brighter lights and signs framed by higher richer buildings, streets buzzing with busy night life.

As they passed the known noticeable sign that informed them they were leaving East Blue District behind, Sanji looked back at them with a playful smirk and impersonated his best chauffeur voice which earned a chuckle from Nami and an all-out guffaw from Luffy:

"Welcome to All Blue District."

* * *

"We're late, bro!"

Franky impatiently tapped his dress shoe against the floor at the bottom of the stairs, seriously considering going up to check if a certain someone had gotten lost in his way to his own bathroom. It wasn't an unlikely possibility.

"Zoro!" he yelled, gradually getting annoyed.

He then heard said man hurriedly stomp downstairs.

"Coming, dammit!" Zoro answered with a deep scowl that showed that he was equally as annoyed at being yelled at. Franky raised an eyebrow when Zoro almost tripped over the stairs as he was too busy fighting with what had to be the most awful tie Franky had ever had the disgrace to see.

"Hey, bro, do yourself a _super_ favour and go change your tie," Franky carefully suggested as he gave a weird look at Zoro's hand fidgeting with the damn thing in order to put it in place and failing miserably. Not that Franky would point that last thing out, he wasn't suicidal.

"What's wrong with the tie? Seems fine to me," Zoro objected with a frown, almost cross-eyeing when he looked down to inspect the object of discussion.

Franky sighed and shrugged, not even trying again and instead doing Zoro's tie for him. They were already running late and he didn't need Robin kicking his ass for it, thank you very much. Once he was done with it, he patted Zoro's shoulder and swiftly straightened his shirt and blazer, nodding to himself as the greenhead looked now presentable. Only if he forgot about the tie, that is.

"Let's get going. I really don't want to be late." Franky hurried him, slightly pushing Zoro to the front door while switching off the lights for him.

"I know where the door is," Zoro grunted.

"Good for you, bro. You're really progressing, five minutes ago you didn't even seem to know where your stairs were. Congratulations!"

"Oi!" came an indignant response.

"Stop oi-ing me and get into the car. If we are really late I'm gonna point at you when asked whose fault it was."

Zoro did as he was told and waited for Franky to get into the driver's side and start the engine, scowling all along. Not that it made much of a difference in his face as his expression always had a certain degree of a scowl in it.

"Relax your face, bro, you'll end up having a serious case of wrinkles in between your eyebrows," Franky commented while joining the traffic. There was a certain mocking tone in his voice, but Zoro decided to ignore it. "Moreover, I should be the one getting super angry. You had me waiting for half an hour. Is it really _that_ difficult to find your way to the bathroom?"

"I seriously think you should shut up," Zoro growled, boring a hole in Franky's temple with a murderous glare.

"It's my ass that's gonna be kicked if we fuck up, not yours," Franky countered with a flat tone. "By the way, how did your shift go?"

Zoro accommodated himself in his sit and directed a bored glance at the travelling cars in front of them.

"Boring," He yawned as if to make his point clearer. "Today we didn't have any specific job assigned, so me and all the unit ended up filling our minimum hours doing paper work. Tried to pay Bonney so that she did mine but the bitch didn't want to."

"Jewelry Bonney? Is she that pink haired woman in your unit?"

"Yup," Zoro nodded with a frown. He really looked pissed. "Worst part is Smoker did shove all his paper work to us, that bastard. So yeah, double shitty work to do."

"Well, Smoker's your boss. Not that you can complain, can you?"

"Still not fair. I hate paper work," Zoro pouted. Really, Smoker wasn't the worst boss he could've had, but he still was a pain in the ass when he wanted to. And he wanted to far too often for Zoro's taste.

"Only because you're lazy," Franky resumed. Zoro turned to him with a threatening glare and caught a glimpse of the blue haired man actually having fun at his expenses. He really was too easy to provoke. But as if to make a point against that, Zoro just shrugged and closed his eyes, hoping he could get some minutes of sleep before getting to the exhibition. Only the thought of so many people gathered in the same closed place giving each other fake smiles and stupid compliments made him seriously consider opening the car's door while Franky was still driving and jumping out of it for dear life.

"Do you even know where we are going?" Franky asked, getting him out of his line of thought.

"Exhibition."

"Of what?"

Zoro hoped that if he stared ahead and looked really _really_ interested in the traffic lights long enough, Franky would just drop the subject, but the frown in said man's face guaranteed otherwise. Zoro puffed and turned to Franky with a resigned questioning look in his eyes. "You tell me."

Franky sighed and seemed to restrain a knowing smirk. He got him there.

"Robin made some successful negotiations with Nefertari Vivi months ago and has managed to open an Egyptian wing for the museum. She has obtained super great archaeological pieces that are going to be exposed permanently from now on and there's a small part with invaluable relics that are going to be exposed for a month and then sent back to Egypt. It's a real privilege that we are invited to the inauguration without even paying. Not everybody is lucky enough to get to see Robin's babies. How super is that, bro?"

Zoro only took a moment to appreciate the weirdness of calling the egyptian relics 'Robin's babies' before dismissing the thought and smiling at Franky's enthusiasm. He really looked happy.

"Control the fond, Franky," he teased, but his smile was warm as well. The comment earned him a first row seat to Franky's middle finger's glory but they both started laughing almost instantly. "She's got you wrapped around her finger, man."

Franky's chuckles slowly faded and he finally shrugged with a happy grin.

"The day you find love I'm seriously going to take all this teasing back at you."

Zoro laughed hard and dismissed the idea with the wave of a hand. "The day I find love you'll already be having a serious case of fatherly fond with a horde of children and I'll have something to counterattack with," then his mirthful expression got lost as his eyebrows relaxed and a thoughtful look kissed his steel eyes. "That if I ever find love."

"You could always try your luck with Bonney. I don't think she'd say no."

Zoro choked and while he desperately tried to catch his breath with tears crowning his eyes and coughing, he heard Franky hysterically laughing and punching the wheel, which only made him double fear for his life, wondering if he'd die from suffocation or after crashing into a building. Really, if that meant he could get the image out of his brain, he'd gladly accept the premature ending of his life.

"Not in a million years, what the fuck! Have you gone nuts?!" he managed with an outraged whine. Franky didn't even listen as he was concentrating in trying not to kill them both while fighting his laughter away, tears running down his cheeks. "Bastard!"

"You looked down, bro. Was just trying to give you some options for you to consider," Franky succeeded to inform before bursting again and almost choking himself.

"Fuck that. She's the last person I'd ever try anything with," Zoro irritably declared. "Aside from Perona, she's even worse... Oh shit, why did I even imagine it?! Get it out of my head before it explodes!"

Franky guffawed again having serious trouble with finding back his breath at this point.

"Moreover, I'm most definitely _not_ Bonney's type."

"Why not? You both have funny hair colours! Pink and green kind of match."

"You're one to talk!"

Zoro had to wait until a new wave of hysterical laughter started to fade away before speaking again, his scowl deep as ever. Why was he even trying to argue with him? He was just clearly trying to make fun of him. "I'd need to have a pair of breasts she could bore her eyes into for her to ever be interested. And even if I had them, I'm positive we'd try to kill each other before 24 hours had gone by, so no, definitely not working. And anyway, finding love is _most definitely_ the _last_ thing I need right now. Now, if you'd be nice enough to let me forget about this horrific idea, I'd really appreciate it, _thank you very much_."

Franky was still laughing and now coughing to get his breath back when the Museum appeared before their eyes, flashy lights, wealthy smart-dressed people and damn expensive cars surrounding the building. Zoro rolled his eyes and started to feel that familiar sense of not belonging as Franky parked his car near the entrance.

"Ready?" the older man asked. Now his gaze was calm and his breathing had come down to normal. Knowing Zoro felt like a fish outside of the water in these kind of events, he was trying to give him a confident mental nudge.

"Not really, but let's get going," Zoro answered with a curt quick smile before getting out of the car. Franky nodded and followed suit, straightening his shirt and giving himself one last look in the side mirror to check his quiff. Once he made sure it was still in place, he turned to Zoro. Who was nowhere to be seen.

"Zoro?" he called, spinning around to see if he could spot him. Nothing. No way in hell, had he gotten lost again?! "Damn lost child…"

* * *

Luffy titled his head and got on his tiptoes as he seemed to have seen something when he got out of the car. That is when Sanji hadn't even finished parking.

"Dammit, Luffy, that was dangerous!" Sanji scolded him while locking the car. "First you park the car, _then_ you get out of it! Thought you knew the basics!"

Nami chuckled behind him, she had given up long ago. Luffy still seemed pretty interested in something else rather than Sanji's reprimand.

"I think I just saw Zoro, but he just disappeared," Luffy muttered distractedly. "I thought he was to come with Franky but I can't see him either."

"How did you lose him? His head is easily noticeable even in the middle of a crowd," Nami said beside him. "Well, that if he just stays still. He's probably gotten lost. Anyways, we'll see him inside, so just don't worry too much and let's hurry, we're already late," she rushed them with a wave.

Sanji blinked once and then got to her side while heading towards the Museum entrance where everyone seemed to be going, surrounded by compliments and the superficial loud chatter that can be heard when a big crowd gets together. The blonde looked at Nami with interrogative eyes but kept silent. When they got near the doors, his curiosity got the best of him.

"So, who's Zoro?"

* * *

**TBC**

* * *

**A/N:** Hi guys! This is the second fic I've ever written and my first AU. There'll be Zosan and hopefully a long plot, so this one will have quite a lot of chapters, but it will also take longer to update. There's a lot of things that may not make sense yet but they'll slowly be explained as chapters go by.

Let me know what you think! :)


	3. Chapter 2 - That Was Close

...

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**That Was Close**

* * *

Sanji showed his invitation card with a gentle appreciating smile at the female guard on the right side of the entrance and she checked both the invitation and his ID card with a professional serious look, not even sparing a glance at him aside from the brief one needed to check if his ID photo matched his face. When she determined it did, she let him pass with a curt polite greeting and Sanji profusely said his goodbyes without forgetting to highlight how beautiful she was looking tonight. Not that she paid him any attention.

Nami and Luffy were waiting for him inside of the building as they had already been checked. They were now holding champagne cups and Sanji turned to an uptight waiter to get his little treat with a thankful smile.

"Zoro is a friend of us," Nami explained. "I didn't remember we hadn't had the chance to introduce you yet."

"That makes me think... You don't know Zoro yet, Sanji!" Luffy threw his hands to his head, wearing an expression that almost seemed to tell him that not knowing him was a serious capital crime.

"No. Never heard about the guy. And obviously never met him."

"He's an awesome guy, Sanji!" Luffy proclaimed with a shit-eating smile. "He's a really good friend of us since quite long ago!"

"Now that you mention it, it _is _weird we haven't thought of introducing them up 'til now," Nami commented with a thoughtful look. "Never thought of it, really. It's weird you haven't heard about him though, not that me or Robin would mention him a lot, but Luffy does talk about him if he's not talking about meat or saying retarded things."

Sanji blinked at that. He balanced how rude could it be to tell her he didn't listen to her boyfriend babbling about 90% of the time so it wasn't really that strange for him not to have heard the guy's name before even if Luffy had mentioned it. Yeah, probably really rude. Not that Luffy would give a damn about this confession since the bubbly man was too occupied freaking out about the fact that Sanji didn't know Zoro and that was apparently not conceivable by any means. And really, Nami didn't listen to her own boyfriend a probably higher percentage of the time than Sanji. But it still was rude, so he dismissed the potential answer and decided to use the always healthy resource that was shrugging.

"But that can't be!" Luffy almost yelled, actually looking indignant. "You just can't not know Zoro! What was I ever thinking, not to introduce you before?"

"What about you relax? I haven't died from not knowing him, I'll be fine," sarcasm was now part of each pore of his being, but Luffy didn't seem to get the sarcasm part so he looked at Sanji with threatening eyes that clearly told him he wouldn't be fine from now on if he didn't meet the damn man. Sanji felt the urge to roll his eyes at that. Then Luffy's expression changed to a bright grin that almost blinded his audience as his face almost split in two.

"Well, you don't have to worry anymore, Sanji. We'll fix this disaster tonight! I'll introduce you guys!" he offered, all happiness and annoying confidence in something nobody else but him seemed to be seeing. "You'll see, Sanji. He is gonna be your best friend, I'm telling you!"

"And since when do you just go and decide who's my best friend?"

"Sanji, you're really stupid, it's not like I'm deciding. It's just the way it is," Luffy puffed with an exasperated look that begged to be kicked out of his face. Luffy talking to him like he was retarded wasn't exactly the way things should be going in Sanji's mind, but rather the other way round. But since he was in a public place surrounded by important wealthy people and it was Robin's night, he decided on just sighing and trying to hide the smile Luffy's enthusiasm provoked him. He really was like a kid and as annoying as he was there was something almost endearing about it.

Sanji hadn't missed Nami's eyebrow raising when Luffy had announced his new best friendship to-be, though. That made him deeply doubt things would go just as Luffy was foretelling, but he settled on not giving the matter one more ounce of importance since he really wasn't that interested, just curious. Luffy's friends were usually far from ordinary and rather eccentric but general rule was that they were cool and fun to hang out with. Luffy wouldn't have it any other way. He really wondered what the new guy would be like. Well, not so new apparently, just that he didn't know him yet.

In the end he just settled on enjoying the night, quickly forgetting about the Zoro-guy. Well, enjoying as much as he could taking into account he had an undesired package hanging under his arm which could as well be as bad as a bomb for the people attending the event, or even worse than that, if they happened to find out. That may be having him feeling a little bit uneasy and only maybe a little bit nervous and tense.

"We should go find Robin," he reminded his friends with a calm casual expression as he looked through the crowd to see if he could identify the dark haired woman somewhere in the hall. It shouldn't be difficult to spot her, really, she was a sight Sanji's expert gaze would never miss even in a crowded place. Yet, she was nowhere to be seen. He wondered if she'd be surrounded by important men congratulating her or if maybe she was to make her appearance once everyone had gathered inside the main building. A soft familiar voice in his back told him neither was the case.

"May you be looking for someone?"

Sanji turned to her fast enough for his neck to crack. That had been unexpected and quite startling but that didn't prevent him from beaming at the tall gorgeous woman, truly happy to see her.

"Robin!", his voice mixed with both Nami's and Luffy's and even though he was closer, Nami made her move first and throwed herself into Robin's arms, squeezing her with glee while lavishing praises and congratulations, never caring about their beautiful – and probably expensive – dresses wrinkling, lavender blue against bright scarlet. When Robin was seemingly freed, Sanji closed the distance left between them and gave her cheek a cast kiss before dramatically taking her hand and landing his lips there with a brief brush, hand behind his back and slightly bowing with grace. That earned him exactly what he'd been looking for: Robin's soft chuckle.

"You're always a gentleman." Robin stated with a smile that sent light beautiful wrinkles around her eyes.

"Robin, my dear! You really look splendid tonight! This dress suits your face heavenly!" he cooed with his usual over-enthusiasm. Of course he would have said exactly the same had Robin been wearing an old broken shitty T-shirt with unmatched sweat pants and frilly socks, and Robin knew that, but she got the hint and smiled back, as she always did, politely thanking him in the process.

When Sanji broke apart hell broke loose as Luffy launched himself to Robin and held one of her hands with both of his, shaking it rather too enthusiastically for it to even be comfortable while shooting an attack of congratulations and few praises as preliminary greeting and then a whole arsenal of questions regarding meat, feasts, hidden treasures in the museum, free meals and walking living mummies apparently ready and about to wake from their sarcophagus and walk around the museum so that he could be friends with them. And the list would have gone on and on if Sanji's foot hadn't helpfully joined in greeting Luffy's shin, which ended the assault with a final "ouch, what was that for?" and a friendly – not really – "shut the fuck up and let her breathe!"

Robin chuckled at Luffy's and Sanji's antics and then proceeded to kindly answer Luffy's questions, especially to reassure the black hole that there'd indeed be tons of meat in the after party and that, no, there wouldn't be any mummies walking around, which funnily enough caused two totally different chained reactions from the young man, who ended up not knowing if he should be beaming and doing some stupid "meat dance" or crying and pouting over the fact that he couldn't have a mummy friend. By then Sanji and Nami were both rubbing their faces in both embarrassment and despair.

"So," Nami intervened, pushing Luffy out of the way in order to try and establish some kind of serious conversation that didn't embarrass them all. "Where's your man?"

Her face had brightened up to a knowing smug smirk. Robin sighed but looked kind of amused as she answered.

"He was supposed to give Zoro a ride, so they should come together."

"Oh, girl," Nami exclaimed, getting a matching accepting look from Robin. "Then you know they will never make it here if it's up to Zoro. Oh my, let's just really hope he's not the one driving. Oh, wait, you saw him outside, though, didn't you Luffy?"

Robin half laughed at that, truly looking amused now.

"Why shouldn't they make it here?" Sanji asked, feeling kind of left out as he didn't know what they were finding so amusing. "Doesn't he want to come?"

"Nah, he totally does. He's just seriously directionally challenged," Luffy explained with a smile that was almost a laugh.

"Believe me, it's an issue. I think it's pathological, you wouldn't even believe where he's gotten himself into when finding his way through _his _dinning room," Nami added, seemingly enjoying bashing their friend for good. Sanji bet that Zoro-guy wouldn't be exactly pleased with the way he was being talked about in front of strangers, but found himself smiling back at them with a surprised yet beaming expression. This was actually fun. And stupid.

"Really?"

"No kidding. This guy is something else," Nami nodded. All along Robin was discretely chuckling beside them, which only made Sanji believe it without further asking, as the woman had a very particular sense of humor and wouldn't be actually laughing if their statements didn't hold some truth in them.

"Have you seen Usopp and Kaya yet?" Robin asked, changing the topic.

"Are they already here?" Sanji asked with a surprised smile. He really shouldn't be the least bit surprised though, Usopp was a punctual man and they had been late, so they obviously were already there.

"Yes, they just went that way." Robin pointed, but neither of them could see the couple as it was far too crowded. "If you want you can go and say hello, I'll be wandering around."

"Yay! It's been ages since I've seen them! Luffy, you coming?" Nami widely smiled, pulling the raven boy with her and then looking at Sanji to see if he followed.

"Coming in a minute. I have this present I have to give her. Go find them and I'll come right after!" Sanji nodded with an equally wide smile.

Man, they loved Usopp. He was pretty sure he was Nami's best friend and the redhead was really fond of the curly haired man, to the point where they chatted and hugged as if they were brother and sister. It would even be endearing if Nami avoided smashing the long-nose's face against her generous bust as if nothing was amiss when she hugged him after time of not seeing each other, since every time Usopp re-emerged from the abyss he'd been put in he was red as hell and didn't know what to do with himself as he activated his default-mantra in this kind of situations: _Kaya, Kaya, Kaya_. Not that the situation got weird for Nami, she just kept chirping about clothes and style and money and gossips to her friend, oblivious of the fact that the other was still having a mental breakdown. So yeah. Almost a brother-sister relationship. Well, more like sisters' relationship. Yes, that matched better.

As for him, he truly had grown to appreciate the man as one of his best friends, even with his tall lies and his scaredy-cat personality, he was smart, skillful and passionate about what he loved to do, he was caring and nice and always had it in him to try and cheer his friends up when he thought they were feeling down, even if he miserably failed.

And when it came to Luffy and Usopp... well, they were hilarious, almost like a comical duo and probably the best friends on Earth ever.

"So you had something for me?"

The soft voice dragged him back from his fond thoughts to realise that Nami and Luffy had already disappeared into the crowd and now it was only him and Robin standing in front of each other and a package under his arm.

"Uh... Yes, sorry, love," he hurriedly handed the package to her with a beam, all the motion natural and totally casual to the outsider eye. Robin took it with a smile that told him he had also tricked her into thinking nothing was amiss. Which definitely deserved a pat on the back for his acting skills since Robin was the most difficult person to trick he had ever met. The way his hand rested a second too long holding the present when she had grabbed the other end sent the message, though. Her eyes immediately shone a different shade as she fixed them on Sanji's, her smile never fading.

"It's from Zeff," Sanji explained, cheerful and laid back. "He wanted to congratulate you for your success but couldn't make it since he had to cover my shift so that I could come. He told me to give this to you, I think it's some kind of chocolate he may have made himself. Anyway, it sure is food coming from my old man. And if he's the one who cooked it then it's probably _really_ good."

"Oh my! Tell Zeff I'm really thankful for this! I'll make sure I call him myself to thank him but do it anyway," Robin answered with a bubbly thankful tone – the restrained range of bubbly you could get from Robin, that is, which definitely doesn't reach Luffy's lowest level.

Sanji let go of the package, smile still on his face as he gently nodded. Robin had gotten the message. One, he never called Zeff by his name when talking about him to his friends. To them and to pretty much everyone, he was the "old shitty geezer" and variables he came up with depending on his degree of annoyance when he mentioned him. Second, he never praised Zeff's food out of the blue and _least_ if he hadn't made some previous clarification than his cooking was obviously worlds better than his old man's. But even if those were strange little things totally out of place in the friendly casual conversation, they were mere complements to the main issue. Zeff would have never sent Robin a present to congratulate her for her exhibition under the pretext that he couldn't make it because, on the one hand, he would have never come here on his own will, not even if he was dragged, and even if he was invited, which he wasn't because Robin never sent him an invitation card. On the other hand, since when the fuck was Zeff as considerate as to send someone a present for their personal achievements he didn't give shit about?

Making sure all of the hints had sunk in when he was reflected in Robin's very knowing gaze, Sanji felt some relief run through his organism and left the package to her. She'd know what to make of it. Message sent. Job done. His free night started now. Time to really have fun and enjoy it.

"Miss Nico Robin?"

First thing Sanji noticed as his heart bumped against his chest was the light change in Robin's grasp, her fingers digging in the package in an almost imperceptible way. His blue eyes swiftly climbed to Robin's ones for a split of a second, but she was already looking elsewhere, no emotion he could figure out sparkling in them. He quickly followed her gaze and froze in place at the sight of the man who was now beside them. Sanji had never sensed his approach until he had called Robin's name.

"Mayor Crocodile," Robin nodded in a polite greeting, working up a smile.

Sanji felt cold sweat break down his spine, his throat suddenly dry and speechless. Really? Was this some kind of joke? His heart was fighting to get out through his firmly closed mouth as a dangerous vibe took over the atmosphere around them, hundreds of questions invading his swamped brain. Had he heard? Was he suspecting something? Was he even paying any attention to the 'present' Robin was currently holding for dear life? How fucked were they right now? Fuck. _Fuck_. He was the last person he needed to suspect them aside from Doflamingo. Not him. What the fuck was he even doing here? Dammit, was he an idiot? It was one of the most important exhibitions Grand Line City had hosted that year, _of fucking course_ the Mayor would be there. How hadn't he thought about that? How hadn't the fucking old geezer thought about that! And what the fuck was his luck that Crocodile had to appear just when he was doing the delivery! Seriously now, what the hell?! Please let him not find out. Please, _please_ let him not find out!

"Congratulations for your success, miss Nico," Sanji was dragged out of his mental prayers, cursing and whines as the low silky voice escaped Crocodile's lips, currently curling into a cold smile that deformed the scar running over his nose from side to side of his olive skinned face. The sight was kind of disturbing and still mesmerizing. Sanji found his numbed mind trying to figure out how had that nasty scar ended up in there. How he had survived that. It looked like it had been pretty deep.

"Thank you very much, Mayor," Robin answered with her polite tone, the one that wouldn't give anything away, the one she seemed to have mastered to perfection. "It is an honour that you were able to come."

"Well, it is an honour to have citizens like you who do so much for this city's prosperity. You deserve every bit of credit we can possibly give to you," Crocodile replied with that uncomfortable smile that had the ability of making one feel like they were being scrutinized. Sanji's eyes didn't leave Crocodile's for any sign of suspicion there might be in them, but he hadn't as much as glanced at the package in Robin's arms. "Moreover, I happen to have some Egyptian blood, so I am _really_ interested. Are you planning on any more additions?"

"None that are yet being negotiated, but seeing as this one seems to be a success, I am talking the Museum to it," Robin explained, the same kind of smile plastered in her face. Was it only Sanji or did the conversation feel like two tigers were rounding and assessing each other, ready for the other's first move? Man, Sanji had never wanted to evaporate from a place so bad. How suspicious would it be if he just casually walked away without as much as greeting his city's Mayor?

"That is great, indeed. I am looking forward to it," Crocodile nodded. Then, to Sanji's dismay, his creepy gaze turned to him, giving him a long hard look Sanji didn't like one bit. But as far as he knew, this was the kind of look the man always wore when he appeared on TV. He hadn't seen that much of him but for all the times he had, his expression had always been exactly the same, no matter who was he talking to when he appeared on screen. So he told himself that he was overreacting. Really. There was nothing that especial about the way his eyes bored into his blue ones. He didn't even look that interested, so maybe he was being just a little paranoid.

"And may I know the young man's name?"

Sanji's brain caught up with his battle sharpened instincts. Shit, he _really_ didn't want to give that man his name. But hell if that wasn't going to be damn suspicious if he just shut his mouth and refused to engage conversation. Wait, was refusing to answer to the Mayor when asked a direct question a crime in his fucked-up country's legal system? He wasn't sure, but he definitely didn't want to try out his luck, he wouldn't exactly be surprised if it was. The atmosphere was already tensing to a breaking point. So he kicked his brain cells into motion and drew a polite smile as he took the offered meaty hand, fingers crammed with expensive looking rings.

"Sanji," he curtly answered, softening his straining tone at the end of his name while cursing himself for starting rough. "It's an honour to meet you."

Crocodile nodded approvingly and then his attention returned to Robin as he let go of Sanji's hand, which was currently feeling the cold of the other man's touch, trying not to shiver and wipe it on his shirt. Dammit.

"Well, I will leave you with Sanji, then. I would not want to interrupt you two and make this awkward. We will be seeing each other later," he announced while widening his smile at Robin and elegantly leaving them alone.

What had that been? Some kind of warning? Had he suspected something? Sanji was about to have a breakdown when Robin's hand rested on his shoulder. He immediately collected himself, knowing that the only thing that gave away his nervousness were his eyes, but that was enough for Robin to notice. He fixed his gaze on Robin, completely silent.

"I'm going to get Zeff's present in the back rooms with the other presents I have received tonight so I don't have to carry it around," she told him, her voice casual, reminding him of where they were. So Sanji brought a wide laid back smile to his lips as he shook his head in agreement, resuming their previous conversation as if nothing was amiss. As if his heart wasn't about to stop working right there and then because there was no way the beating organ could keep on with the rhythm it had fallen into, almost punching his chest.

"Fine, love. I'm going to look for Usopp, then. See you later?"

"See you later," Robin beamed as she started to walk away. Before he lost her in the crowd, Sanji turned to her and called her name, no strain whatsoever in his voice, now totally under control.

"Can I smoke in here?" he asked curiously, showing her an unlit cigarette held in the air. Robin blinked at that but shook her head.

"You can if you go outside, though. The gardens or a balcony will be fine," she indicated with a light understanding smile.

Sanji beamed at her and nonchalantly opened his way through the crowd, trying to keep his feet under control so that they didn't start running to the nearest balcony for a quick escape. He fucking needed a smoke. He felt like he would choke on his own breathing if he didn't do something to calm down and the nicotine was literally screaming for him to make a good use of it. He needed out. He needed out and now. He felt his lower lip tremble at the whole tension of keeping himself at bay, that being the only sign of the storm currently going on inside him. The cigarette was almost crushed between his fingers when someone startled him, and it took everything he had to not jump a foot in the air and instead casually turning to the voice with his 'everything's-alright' mask on.

"Sanji!"

The blond smiled back at Luffy, who had started dragging him through the crowd and inconveniently far from the balcony. Sanji repressed his itching leg, which seemed to want to aim at Luffy's head on his own and instead followed de black haired boy to meet his friends.

"Sanji, man, it's been a long time!"

Usopp left Kaya's hand for a moment to give him a brotherly hug Sanji returned while distractedly taping at the long-nose's back with his hand. Damn, he really needed that cigarette.

"You're exaggerating here, it has been just about..." Sanji's brain was set to work as it caught up with his mouth. "...two weeks."

"Yeah, yeah, I missed you too Sanji," Usopp furrowed at him and Sanji let out an amused grin. Then he turned to Kaya and kissed her pale hand without his mind registering if he had made his usual love dance or just leaned in. _Concentrate_, he ordered himself with a mental frown. Goal was to look natural.

"And how have you been, Kaya?" he asked with a kind smile as Usopp took her hand back with affection.

"Fine, really. I've been quite busy with exams and all but I finally have some free time," she explained with her sweet voice while Usopp looked at her with fond. Sanji knew his friend had been quite frustrated as he didn't get to see Kaya that often during her exams, but she was finally over them and they'd probably spent quite a lot of time together the last few days, which definitely showed on their more vivid and happy faces. Sanji smiled at the sight. They really were made for each other. The thought took over his anxiousness for a minute until Nami spoke beside him, setting his guard up again.

"So, did Robin like the present?"

Oh, yeah. Now he remembered why he fucking needed the cigarette, his inner turmoil taking over him yet again.

"Uhm... yeah... well, she didn't actually get to open it, since the Mayor came to greet her and all..." he forced out, distractedly, as his gaze temptingly travelled to the far balconies. "But she was happy to receive it..."

"Wait, stupid Crocodile is here?"

All of their gazes turned to him with wide shocked eyes, their necks almost popping. Nami smacked Luffy in the head for good measure and Sanji put his foot back on the ground. He had almost thrown a kick to the idiot's face, which would have most likely caught attention and that was the last thing he needed right now, so he mentally thanked Nami for her faster reaction.

"Are you nuts?!" she hissed at Luffy, almost white from the shock.

"What? He's going to make the food taste bad with his presence!" Luffy complained with a serious reasoning face.

Sanji snarled but forced himself to keep his cool as he closed the distance between them and fixed his pissed-off glare on Luffy.

"I'm not exactly sure that saying that out loud while the man is wandering in this hall is the smartest way to go about it," Sanji informed, seriously having trouble with not just yelling at him. "Are you fucking trying to get us in serious trouble?!" he hissed.

"I'm just stating the truth!" Luffy defended himself with a pout.

"Well, you go state it somewhere else!" Sanji groaned, trying to keep the argument at minimum. He really didn't need the spark that would blow the flame in him right now and he especially didn't need anyone eavesdropping on them, so he'd rather make this short. He'd have time to kick the idiot later. "If you dare do or say something stupid again I'll personally kick your ass to the moon and back, got that, rubber-for-brains?"

Damn. The cigarette burned in his hand. He needed it so bad. He needed to fucking calm down, restraining his temper for so long was something he knew wasn't good for him. It would only make the potential outburst worse.

"Got that?!" he insisted, planting a finger in the shorter man's chest.

Luffy sighed and rolled his eyes, visibly against the idea. If he had a choice he'd probably go kick Crocodile's ass about right then. Luckily enough, this time he hadn't had to literally beat some common sense in him and a warning had been enough to make him shut his trap. But the guy still didn't seem too happy about the scolding and that was potentially dangerous. Sanji sighed as well.

"Listen, if you manage to behave and ignore he's here, I'm gonna cook you a meat feast. Would that do?"

Luffy's eyes lit up at that and Sanji swore any other coherent thought had flown away from the boy's brain as he launched himself in a tight squeezing hug that choked the air out of Sanji.

"Sanji you're, like, the best! You promise? Meat feast?!" he happily yelled, attracting undesired attention to them much to Sanji's dismay.

"Yes, fucking yes, just get off me and let me go get a smoke, dammit!" Sanji growled while fighting to yank the young man off him. When he managed to escape, Luffy was beaming at him next to a very exasperated Nami, probably having forgotten there existed a guy called Crocodile. Sanji made sure to point a threatening finger at him before he started heading to the balcony. "And fucking behave or I swear my offer will burn to ashes!"

Luffy happily nodded and Sanji let out a stressed long sigh, dodging people here and there, really needing to get out, breathe some fresh air, calm the nerves that were killing him inside. So much for a relaxing night off.

"Sanji-bro!"

Sanji almost kicked something out of frustration when another voice stopped him in his tracks. He turned to face a large bulky man with blue hair styled in a quiff beaming at him with his big mouth lighting his friendly face. He was wearing a suit that almost looked too small on him and Sanji had to take a moment to get the image together, as he was too used to seeing the man with Hawaiian open shirts and speedos he didn't want to remember him in. Sanji forced a smile out, which turned out to be more natural than he expected as the man always seemed to cheer his mood up with his easy-going personality.

"Franky!" he said, letting the man approach him. "You just got here?"

"Yeah, I'm super late because of some idiot who just got lost," the larger man sighed, looking around.

"You looking for Robin?" Sanji asked with a smirk. Franky drew a smile back to him. "Your beautiful wife is in the back rooms leaving some presents there. She'll be out in a minute I bet. Luffy and the rest are just back there if you want to join them while you wait," he informed, pointing behind him. He couldn't see his friends anymore but with Franky's height the blue-haired man seemed to spot them in the crowd quite easily.

"Thank you, bro! You going for a smoke?"

"Yeah, I'll be back in a minute."

Franky gave him a thumbs up and headed to where their crew was, finally leaving Sanji to his own devices as he now rushed to the balcony, not bothering about controling his feet anymore. He closed the enormous windowed door behind him with a click and his hands started trembling just then. Sanji got away from the door and walked to the rich marbled railing, letting the evening chilly breeze wash his features. It took a while for him to light his cancer stick, hand annoyingly trembling against his stubborn will. Damn it. That had been close. _Too_ close. The image of Crocodile just centimetres away from the package made him cringe. What the fuck had they been thinking? Seriously.

He felt himself calm down as nicotine filled his body and he let the smoke out, watching it blend with the dusk. His gaze rested on the moon and it lazily started looking for stars. Not that he was expecting to see any with the pollution hiding them, but when he managed to spot two blurry ones he smiled. That kind of relaxed him a bit. He told himself nothing had really happened. It had been a big-ass fright and definitely a call of attention for him to be more careful from now on. There were rules that kept them safe and in the dark. He just had to keep sticking to them and the incident of tonight would never happen again. Crocodile hadn't even looked at the package so he was probably oblivious of what had been going on in there. He thanked any God that existed for that.

Sanji slowly felt his nerves and heart beat relax, melting with the peace of the night. They were fine. For now. He took another long drag of his cigarette, his limbs not tense anymore, the calm finally spreading through his body... When a ball of moss started growing on the railing out of nowhere. Sanji froze with the cigarette midway to his mouth. He stood there, still like a picture, watching as the moss gradually growed at surprising speed. Suddenly two arms secured themselves on the marbled surface. Moss could grow arms? And then a face appeared under the mass of moss, scowling and apparently not noticing that Sanji was gaping right in front of him. The moss-ball groaned and swung until he got his whole body – yes, human body, with limbs and all- over the railing, one leg on the inside and the other still hanging out when he came face to face with a very dumbfounded Sanji. The other man froze in place, his eyes bored in Sanji's with a perplexed look that clearly told him he wasn't expecting anyone to be out in the balcony. Well, Sanji sure as hell didn't expect anyone climbing to a second floor and breaking in _through_ the balcony. Much less a moss ball. They stared at each other, just inches away, their respective brain gears set to work and apparently failing miserably, the silence stretching to a point where someone could have just come and cut it with a knife, serving them both a plate full of their idiocy.

Sanji's brain was the first to kick in as his brows slowly turned into a frown and his eyes widened disbelievingly, the other man's features weirdly matching his as they went through the transformation, almost like a mirror. And the first coherent thought that crossed his mind just slipped through his lips.

"The fuck's with the moss growing on your head?!"

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**A/N: **Hi guys! Here's another Chapter! I hope you enjoyed it, let me know what you think! Thank you for your reviews! :)


	4. Chapter 3 - More Reasons Than One

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* * *

**Chapter 3**

**More Reasons than One**

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Zoro was officially angry. Was it _that_ hard to build buildings with proper entrance doors placed somewhere you could see? He was probably really fucking late and he feared Robin would take it on his father-career-to-be if he didn't show there about right then.

So he saw a high balcony right in front of him and basically decided to climb up since it was the only way he pictured he could get inside.

And then, as he was struggling to get over the railing, his gaze met blue piercing eyes the colour of the sea. First thought was that they were beautiful. Second thought brought his gaze to inspect the face around them. Third was that it was _really_ attractive. Fourth told him that it was a man's, if the goatee was anything to go by. Oh, well. Fifth made him realize the attractive man was opening his mouth in order to say something, his expression swimming between the waters of deadpanning and dumbfounded. Sixth helped him come back to reality to listen to what the other was about to say.

"The fuck's with the moss growing on your head?!"

His seventh thought went on the line of '_what the actual fuck!'_.

On an ordinary basis, his mouth would have already snapped a rude retort to that, but it seemed that the part of his brain in charge of making his speech work was on sudden vacation, so nothing came out but sharp blinking, a bit of a frown and an expression he was sure didn't exactly help him in the smart first impression department.

Sanji blinked from the resident moss in the guy's head to his face and then his eyes lingered until they found _the_ tie, making him blink even harder, a hand unconsciously lifting to rub his half open mouth in what could only be defined as pure, primal horror.

"The fuck's with the tie?!" he all but screeched, and he swore his eyes were _bleeding_.

Zoro blinked yet again and if either men's train of thought had been your ordinary person's, they would have realized they were both stupidly blinking frantically, Sanji out of horror and Zoro out of utter disbelief at the situation. Which was a pretty stupid scene taking into account they were both grown mature adults. Or so they claimed. But as neither men's train of thought was your ordinary person's, Sanji's was stuck in getting over the absolute abomination of a tie he had in front of him by blinking, while Zoro tried to process the blonde's outburst by blinking even harder. So, yeah, blinking seemed to be the only available course of action at the moment and so neither of them had second thoughts on how ridiculous they looked right then.

Sanji's brain decided to do him a favour and kick in some sense, forcing him to notice something else once he had freaked out about the guy's hair and _tie_.

"And why the fuck were you climbing up the balcony to start with?!"

There. He should have probably started there. But, well, then again his train of thought wasn't exactly your ordinary person's.

Hearing something that actually made kind of sense in the middle of the whole stupidity, Zoro finally snapped, first coherent pissed off thought being, "And what the fuck's with the dart-brow, shitty curly-brows!"

Sanji gaped at that, deeply frowning at him.

"You know, that was low. Picking up on people's appearance is not nice, moss head," he scolded, taking a drag of his cigarette as nonchalantly as his temper allowed him. Now, the moss-head had really annoyed him. Like, _really_.

Zoro just snorted at that. The guy was seriously pissing him off. "Oh, and what did you just do?"

"_Obviously_, I was worrying about your health since having moss growing on your head can't possibly be normal or healthy for that matter. How did you even get it? Did someone spread seeds on your scalp and watered them on a daily basis or what?"

Zoro blinked yet again at the amounts of utter bullshit coming out of the hot annoying blonde's mouth, that until anger kicked in again and made him snarl.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Are you nuts, curly-brow?"

"Probably, moss-head," Sanji replied with a shrug as he took another drag and kindly blew smoke into Zoro's face, making the other man cough and send him a death glare. "Anyways, what were you climbing the balcony for? You know you need an invitation to get in here, right?"

Zoro scowled at him as he patted for the damn invitation thing in his pockets, not leaving the blonde's eyes, defiant. The thought had occurred to him that maybe the guy was some kind of guard or something and he didn't want to have trouble with that. If it was an invitation he wanted, he was getting it, but not without a cocky smile of his. He was sure the bastard was looking for an excuse to kick him out. Well, he wasn't giving him any. His fingers finally grazed the invitation and he all but plastered it in the blonde's face, cocky grin effectively in place and growing wider as the other's expression turned into an annoyed one.

"Okay, fine, whatever. Any reason you were climbing though? Does the moss family have anything personal against front doors?"

Zoro's grin faded away as he scowled at the damn blonde again. Dart-brow guy was now smirking around his cigarette, apparently amused at his own teasing. Damn him, the guy _was_ attractive.

"Not my problem they hide the stupid front doors from sight," he growled.

The blonde's eyes widened for a moment, assessing him as he wasn't sure if he was joking or not. Seeing the serious expression Zoro wore, he settled for deadpanning, which made Zoro feel utterly stupid.

"You mean _that_ front door?"

Zoro's gaze followed the direction the blonde's finger was pointing at. The enormous front doors were right beside their balcony in a lower level, framed by giant rich columns and flashy lights. Zoro blinked at them. When had they moved there? They seriously weren't there to start with. He swore they weren't. His eyes carefully turned to the blonde, who was still deadpanning, an expression he seemed to have mastered like a pro.

"They. Weren't. There," Zoro slowly pointed, getting all defensive but trying to keep his composure.

"Mmm, yes, they were," the blond replied, his expression not changing a bit. Well, except for the corner of his lips. It was slightly curling upwards. That made Zoro seriously angry, his face blushing in embarrassment as he knew what was coming. That seemed to be it for Curly-brow, who burst into laughing, having to clutch at his stomach, bending downwards to try and regain his breathing.

"Shut your face!" Zoro yelled. Which the blonde obviously didn't do. Zoro groaned and walked pass him with the most embarrassed expression he'd pulled in a while. "Fuck you, dart-brow!"

Sanji was left there in the balcony, laughing like mad by himself as Zoro stomped inside, growling and cursing under his breath, deciding that he hated the guy with his gut and grateful he wouldn't be seeing him again.

Attractive or not.

* * *

"Zoro! You're finally here!"

Luffy jumped at his back like a monkey and decided it was comfortable enough as to stay there with a huge grin splitting his face. He never asked Zoro if he was okay with this, but the green haired man had already come to the conclusion it was useless trying to fight the younger boy off of him as it had become quite an annoying habit.

"Where were you, bro? You just disappeared!" Franky exclaimed as some of his friends let out not so discrete chuckles. Answer was no mystery.

"_You_ disappeared," Zoro defended himself. That was his version of the story, of course, but to him it was just as true as his hair colour.

"Did you get lost again, Zoro?" Luffy asked with a bubbly voice, practically shoving his curious face into his ear when he craned his neck to look at him.

"No."

He heard Nami laugh at that, that witch, but all of the others were laughing as well so he realized there was no point in wasting time trying to shut them all up, they'd get tired eventually. Or so he hoped.

* * *

Sanji had finally controled his laughing fit and was now finishing his cigarette leaning on the railing as he took in the city lights climbing up skyscrapers he couldn't see since the evening had already gulped them. It gave the impression of small lights suspended in the air, aiming for the sky. Sanji smiled at the sight. Grand Line was a busy city, full of business and life, people wandering here and there, heavy traffic and large suburbs surrounding the very center. Sanji threw his cigarette away after crushing the butt against his sole and made it inside.

The smoke break had calmed him, and the weird-as-fuck meeting with the weird-as-fuck moss-head had helped to light the mood somehow, even if the guy had managed to piss him off to a surprising extent taking into account he had barely had the chance to speak much. Not that he was to see the weirdo again, so he just shrugged it off. It had been a fun anecdote to keep in mind the day he ran out of stories to tell to his grandchildren. Not that they would believe someone could grow moss for hair, but that didn't really matter, once he'd reached a certain respectable age, he would be able to say whatever he pleased without giving a fuck. Not that he gave one now.

"Sanjiiiii, we're here!"

His gaze fell on Nami, who was waving in the middle of the crowd, gorgeous as always. Sanji felt a bright smile tugging his lips as he walked towards the group. Luffy was wrapped around someone's back as usual and Sanji rolled his eyes at the guy's antics. The raven haired boy pulled the poor soul's ears to make him turn with an excited face, pointing at Sanji with one finger as he all but bounced on the guy's back.

"ZoroZoro! This is Sanji! Look_look_!"

Sanji's eyes widened when a glimpse of moss greeted him with equally wide eyes.

"You!" they both yelled, accusingly pointing a finger at each other, their faces contorted into a mix of shock and a snarl.

The group looked from one to the other, surprised. "You know each other?" Luffy asked, excited as ever, apparently not quite grasping the mood.

"Hardly."

"Kind of."

"We don't know each other, dart-brow!" Zoro growled, keeping the distance instead of getting into the blonde's space, which was pretty much what he was itching for right now. Manners, personal space and all that crap.

"Well, of course we don't, but we just met outside, stupid marimo!"

And then Robin _snorted_. The group turned to her with shocked expressions, starting with her husband, whose jaw was currently moping the floor. Robin _never_ snorted. Like, ever. At this point Sanji didn't know what was weirder: having met a guy with moss growing on his head or his delicate and elegant Robin snorting. Either way, a small smile started tugging at his lips as he realized what Robin had laughed at. Zoro, on the other side, took it as a bad sign.

"What's so funny?" he suspiciously asked, not really wanting to know. Then he turned to the curly-brow with a scowl. "And what the fuck is a marimo?"

Robin then chuckled, barely containing the laughter behind her hand. A smug grin appeared on Sanji's face. "Maybe Robin can tell you."

Putting two and two together, because he was a smart boy, Zoro looked back at Robin, wondering what was so funny about marimos. Did he even want to know? Nah, probably not. Too late though.

"It is... Well, a kind of seaweed ball that grows in Japan. It's kind of rare, a national treasure, I believe. It... oh my, Sanji, you hit the mark there," she chuckled yet again. "It really looks like his hair."

Zoro heard Usopp snorting behind him and turned to fix him with a murderous glare. The long-nose would have shrieked in panick if he hadn't been too busy being obviously amused by something. Zoro spotted the phone his friend was holding and snatched it from his hand. The bastard had a Wikipedia page opened regarding seaweeds, an illustrative image of the damn algae invading the most part of the screen. Usopp laughed even harder and Zoro decided not to waste time with him, turning directly to snarl at Sanji.

"You're an asshole," he spat.

But Luffy's laugh pierced his ears and left him unable of saying anything else as he had managed to steal Usopp's phone from Zoro's hand and was now passing the picture around for everyone to see, the chorus of laughter growing stronger with each hand it was passed to.

Zoro flushed red with embarrassment and out of all the potential victims around him, he decided to take it on the smug looking blonde who teasingly smiled at him as if he had won a prize, namely, Zoro's utter embarrassment and humiliation. God, he didn't even know the guy and he already hated him.

"You!" he snarled, finally crossing the small distance between them, be damned personal space and manners! His hand curled in the blonde's ironed shirt and aggressively pulled him until their faces were almost touching, sending him his deadliest death glare.

"Oi!" Sanji protested with a sneer, getting a grasp of Zoro's wrist with surprising strength. "You're messing my shirt, moss-head! I don't want fucking moss growing on my clothes, so back away... _marimo_!" Sanji's snarl slowly turned into a smirk until the 'marimo' word slipped past his lips. Then there was a face-splitting smug grin Zoro was tempted to erase with a punch.

"Shut it, curly-brow!" he barked, already feeling a vein in his forehead ready to pop.

"You shut it, marimo bastard! Let go! Ever heard of personal space?!"

Zoro clashed his forehead against Sanji's as if to illustrate him about how much he cared.

"That fucking hurt, you mannerless Neanderthal!"

"St-Stop it... You're drawing attention..." Usopp tried beside them with sweat in his face as he frantically looked from one side to the other, but he went completely ignored.

"You deserved it, dart-brow!"

"Moss for brains, that's what you have! No use in trying to talk sense into you!"

"Well, if your brain is as curly as your brow you're beyond repair as well!"

Luffy burst out laughing right into their ears, almost deafening them and definitely drawing their attention to him even if they didn't let go of each other. They both scowled at the raven haired boy, pissed that there were even tears in Luffy's contorted face, not really getting what was so funny.

"What!" they both barked. Then looked at each other with killing intent, their necks snapping in the process.

"Don't copy me, bastard!"

"Get your facts straight, marimo, _you_ copied me!"

"Oh my, are they three or what?" Nami growled, slapping a hand against her forehead, trying to dissuade anyone who was looking at them of the fact that she was willingly part of that group of idiots.

"I told you, Nami, didn't I?" Luffy beamed when he managed to channel his breath so that he didn't choke and die in the process, which he had been very close to. He let out another happy laugh, patting both Zoro and Sanji in the shoulder with a satisfied grin. "I'm glad you're already best friends!"

Zoro and Sanji stared unblinkingly at Luffy first, then at each other and back at Luffy.

"The fuck," Sanji deadpanned.

The sound of the annoying blonde's voice echoed in Zoro's ears and reminded him he had to react, but Sanji was faster as he snapped out if it before Zoro could.

"Friends with _him_?!" Sanji screeched as he shoved Zoro away with the sole purpose of having enough space to dramatically point a finger at his nose with an insulted disbelieving expression. "Come on, Luffy! How am I supposed to be friends with a ball of moss!"

"You're a fucking asshole, you know that!" Zoro barked back, doing his best to restrain himself and not kill the blonde right there and then.

Sanji's smug smirk told him that he had gotten exactly the reaction he wanted, making Zoro curse himself and wondering if the blonde had purposefully been sent to his life in order to piss him off. Because that seemed to be Sanji's only goal and he was damn good at it.

"Sorry if I hurt your sensitivity there, marimo, didn't know moss could talk, let alone have feelings. I'm still recovering from shock, my apologies if I was harsh," he said with a mocking half-reverence.

Zoro's hand darted away to slap him in the back of his head as he bowed, but Sanji seemed to be expecting it and backed away just in time with a teasing smirk.

What the fuck. Did the blonde enjoy that or something? Well, not like Zoro could talk, he was really pissed at the blonde and he was positive he hated him already, but he would have certainly been laughing at Sanji's wild imagination and insults if they hadn't been directed at him. And it kind of felt like... battling. A refreshing kind of fight, almost. Though he was pathetically losing this one, apparently still processing Sanji's sharp tongue and antagonistic attitude towards him. Not many held his murderous gaze and retorted with the sole purpose of riling him up even more, and the blonde hadn't as much as flinched yet. Maybe that's why he hadn't yet caught up with Sanji's bickering pace, it wasn't what he was used to. He decided to give it a try though, he needed to nurse his pride after all.

"Fuck you, dart brow" he spat. Well, decidedly not a witty cool come back as he had hoped he would make. At this rhythm Sanji would give him a run for his money, and Zoro couldn't have that. He groaned in frustration, trying to come up with something as original and insulting as the blonde's taunts. He really needed to land a hit if he wanted his pride unshattered by the end of the evening. Nothing came. Damn, how did the blonde do it?!

"See? Best buddies!" Luffy concluded, laughing again. A quick glance around them showed him a chuckling Usopp and Kaya, an exasperated Nami, a smug Franky – damn him-, and a know-it-all smile plastered in Robin's lips. Damn them all.

"We're not!" Sanji retorted, glaring at Luffy as if he had personally insulted his mother.

But Zoro knew better than to argue. If Luffy decided they two were best friends, he'd be stuck with Sanji often in the future, as many times as Luffy decided to throw parties and gather the crew, because them 'being friends' meant they were in the same crew in Luffy's stupid eyes, which meant him forcing them to come and spend time together want it or not. He sighed in resignation at the mental sight of his future. Damn Luffy and his deciding-who's-friends-with-who antics. Couldn't he read the damn mood? And he still had to come up with a witty retort to make the blonde fall on his ass!

"I seriously need a drink," he groaned in resignation and slight despair.

"Wait, wait, wait, let me correct you, here," Sanji retorted in a patronizing tone while turning to him with a raised finger. "_Humans_ need a drink. What your species need is called watering. _Watering_. Ring a bell? You should learn the difference, my young tulip field wannabe, your survival depends on it."

At this point Zoro could only gawk at the grinning blonde. Seriously? _Seriously_? Young tulip field wannabe? Now, either the blonde was nuts or... Not that many possibilities left, were there? He almost laughed. Almost. At the last moment, for the sake of his dignity, he managed to change the course of his laughing burst into a furious incredulous yell. "What the fuck!"

Sanji just laughed, genuinely amused at Zoro's dumbfounded face. Ah, wasn't he witty. Poor bastard's face was a poem. Sanji almost felt bad, but damn, it was fun, and he somehow knew he could get a better reaction out of the other man if he just pressed the right buttons. Why he had the imperious need to do so and piss him off when he had just met him, he didn't know.

A middle finger appeared in front of his nose and he faced a glare that promised a painful slow dreadful death. Sanji couldn't help but smirk.

"Come on, that's lame! I bet you can do better!" he taunted. He didn't even know why teasing him was so fun, he just knew it was helping him get rid of all of the tension he had just gone through. And, damn, he couldn't stop himself.

Zoro was about to punch him. Seriously punching him, not bluff-punching him. The blonde was being too cocky for his own good. The only thing that stopped him was that it would actually be a crime to the world to break his attractive face. So instead he snarled and kept his face inches away from Sanji's in a show of physical self-restraint while going all out with the deadly glares, since his brain didn't seem to come up with anything good to verbally counterattack with.

"Luffy, get his idiotic ugly mug out of my sight or I'm seriously gonna murder your friend, and I wouldn't want to do that to you," he warned with a deep growl.

Sanji raised an amused eyebrow at the seriousness of his threat. Interesting. He felt his insides ignite with a flash of fight as his grin grew predatory.

"Okay, okay, stop it you two, you're causing a scene," Franky pushed them separate ways with a bored gesture, rolling his eyes and throwing a warning glare at Zoro. He knew the green haired man had quite a bad temper but he had never seen him lose it that fast. Which made him both want to let out an amused smile and worry at the same time. He settled for neutral peace-keeper ground. They were really gathering attention and he wasn't letting them ruin his Robin's night.

"The fuck, Franky! He started it, he's been an asshole since second one!" Zoro exclaimed with a betrayed look as he pointed at a smirking blonde. Damn, the more the blonde smirked the more he wanted to wipe the expression off his face. "Stop fucking making that face if you don't want me to kill you!" he snapped, ignoring Franky's glare and whatever the blue haired man was about to say.

With that he only earned an expanded version of the blonde's former expression.

Sanji lightly scolded himself for pushing it. He didn't know what had gotten into him, it just felt right and the more he annoyed the green haired man the more fun it seemed. He wasn't usually like this. But then again nobody had ever stood their ground as Zoro was doing. Not very smart retorts, true, verbally speaking Sanji was pretty sure he had the upper hand, but his attitude towards his taunts was screaming for a fight, defying and fierce. Confident that he could beat Sanji's ass any moment. Which he couldn't, of fucking course. But it still stirred him up and made him want to poke at his pride some more, see what he could really get out of that man. He suspected there was a lot more hidden under the roots of moss implanted in his head than met the eye. Everything in Zoro screamed fight and challenge. And, oh, didn't Sanji love those words and what they carried with them.

"Enough is enough, you morons!"

Both men shut their mouths and swallowed whatever they were going to yell at each other when Nami's fists connected with their heads a little too roughly.

"I'm starting to think that not having you introduced was a good thing," she growled, embarrassed and annoyed at the scene. Robin chuckled by her side, visibly amused and not having a care in the world about the image they were giving despite it being an important night for her.

Zoro glared at the dark-haired woman with confusion in his face. There was something she found really amusing in the situation, he could read it in her eyes, but it wasn't the simple kind of thing that was currently amusing Luffy. He had the feeling that he didn't want to know. He still eyed her suspiciously. After knowing the woman for so many years she still could be a puzzle when she wanted to, and the most annoying part was the fact that she seemed to know things before anyone else did. That's the kind of look she was giving him now. She knew something he didn't. And that annoyed Zoro to no end.

His thoughts were disturbed by Sanji's mating call as he reassured Nami that he'd behave in between a streak of compliments and utter idiocy put down in words. Zoro looked at the embarrassing idiot in disbelief, growing annoyed by the moment. Well, now he knew two things. The bastard was an utter idiot. And the utter idiot was utterly straight if the way he was staring at Nami's bust was anything to go by. Zoro grunted, his eye slightly twitching in annoyance.

"You're an idiot," he stated.

"What was that, moss head?!"

"I said stop it, damn it!" Nami sneered as she threatened them with her fists.

Luffy was cackling by their side, finding the situation specially hilarious as he kept pointing at them both. Sanji swore the guy had some kind of misplaced fundamental brain cell, but he was starting to get used to Luffy's antics by now.

"This is starting to be stupid," Usopp grunted as he rolled his eyes, Kaya rubbing soothing circles in his arm while containing a chuckle. Their group was already eccentric, put those two in the equation sharing the same space and he didn't even want to know. He somehow assumed his peaceful days were over.

"Shut it, long-nose!"

Usopp deadpanned at the two idiots bursting at the same time and giving him the same threatening glare only to realize they had mirrored each other and going back to glower daggers at the other. This time they had the decency to keep their mouth shut, probably in hopes to avoid another of Nami's outbursts. Not that they needed words, their glares quite sent the message.

"As much as I'm enjoying myself here, I should get going, we are going to officially open the Egyptian wing in a few minutes and I have to be there," Robin intervened with a soothing tone that managed to hide her amusement, much to Zoro's annoyance. He really didn't get what was so funny about the situation. Some part of him feared that she was internally laughing at their idiocy.

"Okay, love, see you later," Sanji waved as he switched gears again to become a charming gentleman with the brightest smile in the room when talking to her.

Zoro raised an eyebrow and vaguely wondered what was about the blonde's attitude that managed to annoy him to such a fundamental level, no matter what he did. He felt the urge to inform him he was an idiot again, in case he had forgotten, but forced himself to shut his mouth since it would be completely out of place and he didn't need to embarrass himself even more. The blonde was doing a pretty nice job of it, he didn't need Zoro to give him a hand.

Robin waved a 'see you all later' and left after flashing an unreadable smile to Zoro, who frowned in distaste. He didn't need Robin's attitude either, it just put him on edge. He was starting to think that maybe jumping out of the car when he had gotten a chance would have been a brilliant idea. Not only did he hate events like this, but an idiotic annoying-as-hell blonde had to be introduced into his life without asking for permission. Zoro decided he'd ignore him. That would do the trick. Ignore the hot stupid blonde and his taunts, it didn't matter if Luffy had decided they'd be friends, it didn't matter if they were forced to share the same space and company in the future, just ignore him and everything would be fine.

It would be a really convincing speech if he wasn't currently getting riled up by a taunting smirk Sanji had just pulled his way. The blonde wasn't looking at him anymore but Zoro kept glaring a hole in his head, knowing full well that the smirk was a kind of 'deal with me, bastard' one, just a non-verbal provocation that nobody else noticed. The bastard knew how to play that game. Zoro had to remind himself of his resolution to ignore him to restrain a biting remark that would have only given Sanji what he wanted. Dammit, the blonde knew how to get under his skin. Asshole.

"I think we should head this way if we want to get a good place to see Robin," Nami suggested, getting a hold of Luffy's shoulder so that her boyfriend wouldn't get away while looking for meat, since he had started whining about it again, and that only meant 'hunt-the-meat-down' time if they didn't distract him. Never mind if there was no real meat around.

"Good idea, let's get going," Usopp nodded as he took Kaya's hand on one of his and grabbed Sanji by the collar with the other just un case the cook decided that starting a fight with Zoro right there was a good idea. Sanji obviously bitched about being manhandled but other than that he followed suit and started a kind conversation with Kaya. He knew what his place was, he wasn't going to pull the strings further than he knew how to without breaking them.

Zoro scowled. Not only was the blonde a good player, he was a smart one as well. Damn him. What had he done in a past life to deserve this bastard in his current one? He had never met anyone with the ability to annoy him as much as the blond did. He had only spent minutes with him but it already felt like enough of a punishment for a life full of crimes. And now they were bound to meet often if it had anything to do with Luffy deciding, and it would.

The thought occurred, though, that they had close friends in common and yet they hadn't met until that night, so maybe they just had incompatible working hours or some shit like that that had prevented them from running into each other when their friends met. Zoro held onto that hope with everything he had, maybe he didn't have to see the blonde again if he was careful enough. It wasn't as if Luffy wasn't easy to fool. He could just tell him he had work to do if the idiot raven boy happened to have the brilliant idea of organizing a meeting with them both invited.

With that thought in mind he felt considerably relieved and capable of actually ignoring the blonde.

He decided not to ask himself why he had to take such drastic measures with some stranger he had just met for a few minutes. The answer was that the bastard knew how to get under his skin without even knowing him and that was something Zoro wasn't comfortable with. He had never felt such an antagonistic attitude against someone and yet some part of him didn't totally dislike it. That's why it was better not to ask. Don't ask, don't find weird answers you don't like to hear. Believing that Sanji was an asshole was much convenient than feeling like the bastard was a good match and a potential good challenge. He knew himself well enough to be wary of how much a challenge attracted him and Sanji could very well be one, he didn't need to spend more than a minute with him to know it, it was just a gut feeling he trusted. That's why he forced himself to get him out of his thoughts that night and hopefully never see him again. It wouldn't do to get attracted to a challenge that got on his nerves and was a total prick. It would only earn him a headache and he didn't need one, thank you very much.

A little evil voice inside told him that if he needed that much convincing himself, he wasn't exactly going to succeed. To which he answered with a stronger determination to ignore the bastard. Not even a glance. Such a shame that he was currently ogling said bastard's back. Just in case he happened to see any sign of the blonde trying to tease him again and be prepared, he swore.

Zoro sighed and followed the others, already feeling the migraine building up. The asshole blonde had managed to get him in a bad competitive mood, the kind that drew out his scowliest scowl and made his eyebrow twitch.

Luffy suddenly startled him when he plopped by his side out of nowhere. He had apparently gotten ahead of Nami unharmed and was now tilting his head to take a good look at Zoro.

"Did you know Sanji practices savate?" he asked with his most innocent tone and expression.

Zoro felt his eye twitch along with his eyebrow and forced himself not to waste a glance on Luffy. "Really," he grunted, his facial expression screaming 'not interested'. He was also trying to send Luffy the message to fuck off but as was foreseeable, the younger man didn't get it and kept babbling.

"Well, it's not exactly savate, it's kind of similar though. It's a really unique fighting style, I've never seen anyone using it aside of him. Except for his father, the old man can kick!"

Zoro didn't even bother answering. He had promised himself to ignore the blonde and that included ignoring whatever Luffy or the others had to say about him. He'd be a terrible liar if he tried to say out loud that the information hadn't picked his interest, though. So the bastard could fight. He somehow had expected it, Sanji had the vibe of a fighter, no surprises there.

"He's actually very good, you know. He's kicked my ass a few times and it hurts as hell," Luffy continued with a pout at remembering the painful experience. That made Zoro give him a quick look before returning his attention to following the others. Kick Luffy's ass? For real?

"You must be really out of shape if some scrawny bastard can kick your ass that easily," he retorted, raising a disbelieving eyebrow.

"No, no! I was going all out, I swear, but damn, he can fight, you have to be careful when you try to steal food from him, it really can cost you a few ribs!" Luffy replied with wide eyes and gesturing as if he was giving Zoro a lecture. Zoro would have laughed at Luffy's antics if that bit of information hadn't unsettled him. Someone capable of properly putting a fight against Luffy and actually landing some damage had to be good.

"You shouldn't steal food to start with," Zoro grunted with a scowl, trying to divert the subject.

"It's not like you don't go around stealing booze," Luffy pointed out with a no-shit expression at the same time Zoro managed to snatch a glass of champagne out of the hands of a waiter only to drown it in one go. If Luffy was going to be an insufferable idiot about Sanji he'd need all the booze in the world not to yell at the poor guy that he wasn't interested.

Luffy shut up for a moment, seemingly considering something. Zoro had the feeling that he didn't want to hear it but as much as he wished he didn't, Luffy finally opened his big mouth with an annoying brilliant expression.

"You know, last time I asked, Sanji told me he needed a good sparring partner, if you'd be interested."

"Why don't you do it yourself if you are so fond of the blondie? I'm sure you'd have fun," Zoro growled, hoping Luffy would get the hint and leave him alone. He didn't.

"Nah, we've tried but it doesn't really work. We've teamed up sometimes and we're a pretty good team but when it comes to fighting each other it just doesn't cut it. And I don't like sparring that much, that's more like Sanji's thing. But he doesn't seem to find a good match," Luffy explained, a thoughtful expression dancing in his face.

"So you thought I'd be ideal for his sparring sessions," Zoro offered with a blank look.

"Basically."

"Well, then, you're wrong."

"Oh, come on, why? You'd really have fun, he really is a good challenge and you love challenges!" Luffy whined, seeing his plan of magically making the duo best friends crumbling in a blink of an eye.

Yes, he loved challenges, thank you for reminding him, he didn't need that right now when his main goal was to ignore the particular blonde challenge.

Zoro let out a long annoyed sigh, finally fixing Luffy with a glare.

"Luffy, I won't be friends with him so, really, don't waste your breath. It's not working."

"Why wouldn't you want to be friends with him? He's a really great guy!" Luffy complained with a mix of a scowl and a pout.

"Because I don't like him," Zoro blurted matter-of-factly, trying to convey his words with his eyes bored in Luffy's, hoping the message would get through.

Luffy snorted, suddenly looking amused. "And there I though Usopp was a bad liar."

Zoro blinked at him, confusion written all over his face. What?

And then Luffy left to pester someone else, whistling on his way with his hands crossed on the back of his head, casually walking as if nothing had ever happened.

Zoro found himself frowning furiously, but at some point he realized he wasn't frowning at Luffy's retreating back but at Sanji's. The blond was currently chatting with Nami, a kind charming expression on his face as he laughed at something she had just said. Zoro's scowl deepened. That kind of face should be illegal. Period. And it definitely shouldn't belong to an asshole as the blonde was. Because it confused the fuck out of Zoro, that's what that blonde had managed to do in less than twenty minutes while looking fantastically in control of the situation. That bastard. So much for ignoring him.

He suddenly had the urge to call him and idiot to get his attention and start a fight, but some mature remnants inside his very adult self told him it wasn't a good idea. That didn't stop him from wondering how a physical fight with him would be like. Would Sanji be as quick and smart about it as he was when speaking?

Zoro groaned. And why was he even wondering? It annoyed the hell out of him that the blonde had managed to catch his attention like that. The bastard had just needed minutes to get it when most people needed a lifetime. What the hell, he had completely and legitimately earned it with his first line, the first second! Who the fuck goes for 'the fuck's with the moss growing on your head?!' as the first thing to say to a stranger? The blonde was begging for a fight from second one. Maybe that's what had Zoro so riled up and unable to control his wandering thoughts, and maybe that's why he was currently staring with furious glares at Sanji's sweet smile directed at Nami, oblivious to the turmoil in Zoro's brain.

At some point they managed to find a way in between the crowd so that they'd get a place nearby the entrance of the Egyptian wing, where people were crowding. A long red tape was hanging from side to side of the door, waiting to be officially cut. Low music kept playing in the background, classic and laid back, probably through loud speakers and not out of musicians playing live since he hadn't seen any.

Zoro noticed Sanji looking around with a bit of a nervous tic and couldn't help but wonder what was wrong. Maybe he was looking for someone and couldn't find them? But it was more like the bad type of nervousness he sensed. Pretty well masked to his credit, but being an experienced fighter there was no way Zoro would miss it. Zoro quirked an eyebrow. What did it matter anyways?

His attention switched when Robin made her entrance along with some of the museum's headboard members, all dressed smart and walking proud and confident. Zoro scowled. Robin didn't belong in that image. At all. It wasn't as if she wasn't the most sophisticated woman in the room without the need of trying but she just wasn't like the people currently surrounding her. Aside from two or three decent looking ones who didn't look at the crowd as if they were expecting their shoes to be licked clean, the rest sported the kind of haughty expression Zoro usually felt the need to wipe off with a punch. He could just picture how many of them would claim the new Egyptian acquisitions had been their achievement instead of Robin's when they had just sat back and let her work her magic, probably having nothing else to do but picking their noses.

That's why Zoro absolutely despised this kind of events in which rich people from around the city gathered. Fake smiles and arrogant looks, constantly checking the other guests to make sure no one was better than them. Frankly speaking, Zoro hated this kind of people and wanted nothing to do with them if he could avoid it. It's just the fact that it was Robin's night that was keeping him there.

It would have been bearable if a new figure hadn't appeared right then. With his confident powerful stance, Mayor Crocodile made his way out of a group of bulky well-dressed important men to take Robin's hand in his with his trade-mark smile. The one that made Zoro have unpleasant shivers down his spine every time he saw it on TV. Seeing it live didn't make it any better but rather worse. There was something so very wrong about that man. Something aside of the country's system he represented in that city, that is. To Zoro, whoever lead their system was scum, to be frank. A system that claimed to do everything to protect the freedom and security of those who deserved it while taking it away. Zoro felt something boiling in his stomach but swallowed it down as he tried not to glare at Crocodile. He didn't exactly need to be wary around the man, there was nothing he was doing wrong at the moment and, anyways, his job gave him a plus of credibility that played his favour when needed. He specially didn't need to worry because he was totally invisible to all those important people, specially to the Mayor. Just like the rest of the crowd gathered there. But he still felt something unsettling inside, that man had the power of making the ones around him profoundly uncomfortable.

He watched intently as Crocodile exchanged some words with Robin and the headboard, all but being flashed with cameras picturing the moment from the corners of the hall. He wasn't really listening though. Whatever Crocodile went to say next as he directed the crowd and started an official opening speech went unheard as something clicked inside Zoro's brain. Luffy and Crocodile were in the same room!

His gaze snapped to his sides in the look out for Luffy, a little bit more frantically that he would have liked. It was no news that Luffy hated Crocodile's guts and all that he represented, and it was no secret that he acted on impulse more often than not. Whenever situations like this happened there had to be someone by Luffy's side trying to get the idea of punching some important person's face in off his head unless he wanted to become an Unwanted in the process. To his credit, Luffy had never done anything of the kind publicly but it wasn't as if he hadn't been really tempted and about to do it a few times. Merely speaking badly of the wrong person could lead to awful consequences and Luffy was more than liberal with that. If he didn't like someone he said it, no filter whatsoever. More than once Luffy had found himself with a hand physically clamped against his mouth to shut him up and prevent him from putting himself into serious trouble.

Zoro felt sweat break through his spine, suddenly nervous. He didn't exactly fear Luffy leaping out of his spot to beat Crocodile, he knew better than that, but nobody could really reassure him that he wasn't going to just blurt something stupid right in front of him.

When he finally spot the familiar raven hair he stopped in his tracks since somebody had been faster than him.

Nami was soothingly holding Luffy's arm as if nothing was amiss. On his other side was Sanji. His stance was apparently casual but it didn't take more than a second for Zoro to register his hand strongly squeezing Luffy's shoulder, willing the other to relax with a more than likely painful grip. A little longer glance told Zoro that by grabbing Luffy like this, Sanji was also getting rid of his own tension. Which was huge, Zoro could tell.

What was up with Sanji? Why was he suddenly so wary?

He followed his gaze and fell on Crocodile. Did the man really unsettle the blonde that much? Well, he unsettled pretty much everybody he knew just by appearing on TV, but Sanji's jaw was far too clenched and his hand was gripping Luffy's shoulder with too much force for it to be a calming gesture to the other. Something was off.

Zoro frowned in confusion as one single question popped in his head. What was Sanji doing that he shouldn't be doing?

His gaze promptly fell on Luffy, wondering if the younger man had anything to do with it. Was Sanji part of Luffy's undercover scheming?

A round of applause distracted him again and when he looked back at the entrance of the Egyptian wing, the red tape was cut and Crocodile smiled at the cameras with the air of someone who controls the world. Which he was pretty capable of doing, Zoro was sure, wasn't Doflamingo the one to wave the magic wand in that country.

After that, he felt the crowd pushing him along as everybody entered the wing with loud chattering and exaggerated compliments. Usopp caught him by the upper arm and brought him with the rest, perfectly knowing there was a high chance for Zoro to get lost even when hundreds of people were heading one same way. Zoro registered scowling at him and complaining, but aside from that he let himself be led.

When he located Luffy again he made his way towards him. He had a question to ask and he better answer.

But his plans saw no light when the raven haired boy started jumping around like a kid on Christmas day when he spotted the mummies and the sarcophagus, Nami hot on his heels to stop him from breaking anything. Zoro rolled his eyes and groaned in frustration, helplessly sending a look Sanji's way. He was currently commenting some weird relic with Franky, who was loudly boasting of Robin's achievement with pride. He almost smiled at the sight. Almost. There was currently something else wandering on his head and killing him with wonder.

Zoro detached from Usopp's hold and tried to approach Luffy again, to no avail, which only made him scowl deeper.

"Doesn't look like you're very interested in what's exhibited?"

Zoro spinned around to face a smiling Robin, guilt written all over his face. To be frank he hadn't paid the slightest amount of attention to 'Robin's babies', as Franky liked to call them.

"Uh..." was his very eloquent response.

Robin chuckled. "Don't worry about it, I figured you wouldn't be interested." Then she handed him a glass of wine for him to drown in one go.

"Thanks. I think I needed it," Zoro gratefully grunted as he handed the now empty glass to a passing waiter.

"You definitely did. What's wrong?" she asked, her enigmatic know-it-all look in place.

Zoro shuddered. He didn't like it when Robin looked at him as if she could read his mind.

"Uh... Nothing really. This is just not my place, I don't feel comfortable here. See those fake smiles over there?" he discretely pointed at a group of people at their left, much to Robin's amusement. "Make me wanna puke."

It was hardly a lie, it was exactly how he felt, just that he wasn't completely answering Robin's question by omitting certain details. Just as the fact that the blonde's overall attitude put him on edge and awakened his most primal curiosity and fighting spirit. The little detail that the guy was hot as fuck didn't exactly help his ogling case. To be fair he had always been more on the women's side of the boat so to speak, but that didn't mean he couldn't appreciate a good view when he spotted one. And the bastard blonde did have a face sculpted by angels at the very least. Zoro scowled in distaste. Such an asshole didn't deserve that face, that much he was sure of.

When he looked back at Robin she was giving him that small annoying smile that told him she knew something he didn't.

"I have to agree with you, but let me reformulate the question. What's wrong _with Sanji_?"

Zoro gulped. Damn her and her brain-reading magical powers.

"You mean in his head? You better not get me started, the list could be infinite. I don't even know how you are all friends with him. He's a prick," Zoro retorted defensively.

Robin chuckled and Zoro glared at her in response.

"He caught your attention," she stated.

"Not in the least," Zoro antagonized.

"Well, he did call you 'young tulip field wannabe', if his originality doesn't catch your attention I don't know what does," Robin reminded him with a smug smirk.

"The guy has issues," Zoro growled, rolling his eyes.

"So do you."

"Whatever, are we done with this conversation? I'm kind of getting bored with it."

But the answer was obviously 'no' as Robin tilted her head to get a better view of Zoro's avoiding eyes, all but enjoying the cornering game she was playing. It would have been entertaining to watch if Zoro hadn't been the prey.

"What were you trying to ask to Luffy?" she asked with a gentler tone. Then it changed to smug. "Something about Sanji, I figure."

Zoro snarled and stepped back a little so as to regain some of the personal space he'd been stolen by the woman.

"Not really."

Robin smiled wider. "That's a yes."

"Would you stop?!"

"No need to go all defensive, I'm just offering a quicker answer to whatever your question is."

Zoro sent her a suspicious glare, knowing there was something she was gaining in exchange that he probably didn't want to give. He couldn't picture what though.

"Zoro, I don't have all night, so I'd appreciate it if you'd hurry," Robin pressed, her expression not giving anything away except for the fact that she was having fun while bugging him.

Zoro finally sighed, curiosity taking the best of him as he shrugged and shot.

"Is Sanji involved?"

Robin's eyes widened a little but her expression didn't bug.

"No, I believe he's currently single."

Zoro frowned at the answer, not getting what it had to do with-wait, wait, wait!

"That's not what I meant, for fuck's sake!" he hissed as he went all shades of red, mostly out of anger at Robin's well displayed tricks.

"Oh, really?" she asked all innocence and obliviousness. Damn her.

"Of fucking course not! You're evil, woman! Stop playing games!"

Robin chuckled and shrugged, thoroughly amused by the whole situation and Zoro's embarrassment.

"Then what would you mean?"

Zoro was very tempted to just drop the subject and try with subjectLuffy, but he feared the boy would come up with a stupider answer than Robin, so he made an effort to calm down his growing annoyance and reformulate his question without being obvious because you couldn't just go discussing this kind of things in public, not with the consequences it entailed.

"I meant," he started, glaring at Robin so that she'd shut the fuck up in case she had another brilliant retort to tease him with. "If he is _in_."

Robin's expression changed then to cautious and forcibly casual, aware of the fact that the topic had become dangerous. It's not as if she hadn't expected Zoro asking something like that, just not this early. Robin squinted her eyes disapprovingly at Zoro's carelessness for bringing this up in a place full of wrong potential eavesdroppers.

"'In' as in '_in_'?" she murmured, making sure they both knew what they were talking about.

Zoro nodded, suddenly feeling wary of his surroundings. The words they spoke didn't exactly give anything away but one could never be careful enough.

Robin gave him a hard stare.

"You should go ask him yourself," she answered matter-of-factly. "You know you shouldn't go asking third parties about other people's private business, less when it comes to this."

Zoro snorted. He knew that was true, but still, curiosity was killing him. "Yeah, 'cause if I asked he'd just tell me with a charming smile."

"You haven't tried."

"Nor will I."

Robin slightly scowled at him, an unusual gesture on her that meant she didn't approve of Zoro's actions.

"Well, you do what you want, but don't go asking Luffy, he'll give you the same answer I have."

Zoro deeply frowned at her as she left him to go talk to important men and women she needed to charm and Zoro was left to his own devices as he mulled over the idea of Sanji being involved in Robin's and Luffy's illegal escapades. He startled when a gentle hand touched his shoulder and when he turned he confusedly faced a smiling Robin.

"What, now. Thought you had to go."

"Just felt the need to remind you that he is single," she answered, and left as fast as she had returned.

Zoro was left staring at her back like an idiot, his mind currently blank and recovering from Robin's dirty tricks. The woman had too much fun messing with other people's heads, he swore. It was starting to creep him out.

When left alone, his gaze went back to looking for blonde hair. This time Sanji was chatting with Usopp, huge grin in place. Zoro raised an eyebrow. He almost looked carefree but he knew better. The slight tension in his shoulders gave him away. He felt threatened in that place.

That and the fact that Robin had plainly avoided answering his question gave him the only answer he needed. Sanji was deep in the same shit Robin and Luffy were. He didn't know up to what extent he was involved but he was in somehow and _definitely_ doing something he legally shouldn't.

Zoro groaned deeply. Being part of the Special Unit number 13 he couldn't just ignore it, he'd been trained to do otherwise. Having friends who acted outside the Law's protection when your job is to hunt down criminals can be stressing sometimes. Helping them out when you should be doing the contrary can be lethal if you're not careful. He didn't need another problem to the complicated equation that was his life, thank you very much, and Sanji was promising to be one. What he didn't know was if he'd be able to overlook what he did just as he did with Luffy and the rest. Would he be like them or was he doing things that went against Zoro's morals? Because if that was the case he just couldn't overlook it, no matter how hard he tried.

Zoro frowned. What exactly was the blonde's role in the hidden ordeal? He sighed. If Sanji was Luffy's friend he couldn't be that bad, could he? There were lots of people who were unhappy with the system, him included, it wasn't _that_ weird to see someone lending a hand to the cause.

Damn, he needed a drink. A strong one, not the shit they gave him there. Why was it that trouble seemed to always know its way to his front door? There was a reason he tried to keep himself out of this shit even if he did his part in helping the way he could.

Agh, fuck. He knew he shouldn't have come here in the first place.

But even more than a drink, much to his dismay, he _needed _to figure the blonde out, for more reasons than one.

**TBC**

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**A/N: **Hiiiii, here's another chapter! I hope you like it, please let me know what you think! :)

If you're wondering what's going on with Sanji, Robin and Luffy or what Special Unit number 13 is, or who the Unwanted are, I think I'll be explaining it all in the next chapter so that everything will be clearer! For now it's just guessing, but hopefully next chapter will explain some things.


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